Thread: I will be moving to the Seattle area next month

[QUOTE=ezgoing;4281714]I'm looking forward to meeting and fishing with you. It's a different world when you can fish seven days a week. For one thing you can avoid the weekend crowds of bass boats, jet skis, wake boats, water boarders, water skiers and pleasure boats. You can also pull up to a favorite brush pile without finding three other boats already fishing it.

I quit bass bass fishing over 50 years ago, when Bass Masters started and the ill mannered louts flooded the lakes trying to get rich from fishing for bass. Sadly when Crappie Masters started we started to see the same ill mannered behavior from crappie fishermen. Yes, I'm a cranky old man.

I chose Lake Washington due to it being the biggest lake in the area, with the most marinas for a fresh water lake. I have a 24' pontoon with aluminum logs and deck so I don't want to keep it in salt or brackish water due to corrosion if I can help it. I am no longer physically able to trailer a boat so I need to keep it on a slip on the lake.

Does Lake Washington contain rainbow trout and walleye? I've seen videos on YouTube of people catching crappie, rainbow trout and walleye there but they are not listed on the State's fish and wildlife department as being in the lake. I'm hoping they are present since I have not been able to fish for them since 1967, when I left the military and moved from El Paso.

My pontoon has Livescope so if there are any crappie in Lake Washington I will find them. But I admit it will be much easier if I have somebody local to tell me where to start looking for them. Plus I find fishing more fun when I have somebody to enjoy it with me.

I don't know exactly when I will arrive there as I am having some medical procedures done that might keep me here in Texas until mid-September. I will know later today after I will see my doctor. But i definitely will notify you when I know so we can plan a fishing trip or two together.[/QUOTE


Lake Washington does have Rainbow Trout , As far as Walleye I'm not sure as I never have caught any and the reports I've seen are from people that confuse the walleye with squaw fish or sometimes large perch. Also heard reports that some have caught Sauger and confused them as Walleye. Either way if there is any walleye or Sauger they had to have been plated illegally as they are not native to the lake. The lake does have a Salmon {COHO} migration, in the early too late Fall and can be pretty good fishing jigging and trolling for them. These fish come thru from the ocean to Puget sound thru our Ballard locks and into Lake Union .
Please look me up when you do get here as there other options and hopefully help each other to improve on our quest to catch Crappie. One thing that I must point out is there is a high level of PCB in the lake that suggest limiting the amount of fish you eat.

Lake Washington does have Rainbow Trout , As far as Walleye I'm not sure as I never have caught any and the reports I've seen are from people that confuse the walleye with squaw fish or sometimes large perch. Also heard reports that some have caught Sauger and confused them as Walleye. Either way if there is any walleye or Sauger they had to have been plated illegally as they are not native to the lake. The lake does have a Salmon {COHO} migration, in the early too late Fall and can be pretty good fishing jigging and trolling for them. These fish come thru from the ocean to Puget sound thru our Ballard locks and into Lake Union .
Please look me up when you do get here as there other options and hopefully help each other to improve on our quest to catch Crappie. One thing that I must point out is there is a high level of PCB in the lake that suggest limiting the amount of fish you eat.

Originally Posted by Bassin Buddha

Lake Washington does have Rainbow Trout , As far as Walleye I'm not sure as I never have caught any and the reports I've seen are from people that confuse the walleye with squaw fish or sometimes large perch. Also heard reports that some have caught Sauger and confused them as Walleye. Either way if there is any walleye or Sauger they had to have been plated illegally as they are not native to the lake. The lake does have a Salmon {COHO} migration, in the early too late Fall and can be pretty good fishing jigging and trolling for them. These fish come thru from the ocean to Puget sound thru our Ballard locks and into Lake Union .
Please look me up when you do get here as there other options and hopefully help each other to improve on our quest to catch Crappie. One thing that I must point out is there is a high level of PCB in the lake that suggest limiting the amount of fish you eat.

I definitely plan on fishing with you when I get there. At this point I still do not know the exact date I will be there. It could be as early as the end of this month, it could be as late a mid-October. I will know more next week.

Nor do I know the area we will live. My daughter is there now, looking for her new dream home. Houses are a lot smaller there than here and they are almost twice as high. My son-in-law is facing sticker shock over the prices of the houses they are looking at.

I know the lake has crappie and rainbow trout. I have watched YouTube videos of people fishing for both. I have watched a few where they were fishing for walleye but walleye may not be plentiful on the lake. I don't find it unusual to think people have introduced walleye to the lake, as it often happens. And in this instance I hope it has happened.

I know about the mercury and PCB contamination. I have read up on both. For some reason crappie and rainbow trout are not included in the warnings but many other species are. Including cutthroat trout. I don't understand cutthroat would be include and rainbow trout not included. I also understand that yellow perch under 10" is OK, but over 10" is on a restricted diet.

I do eat crappie on a regular basis but I only keep around five fish when I do keep them. You must remember that the limit on crappie here is over 10 inch and 25 crappie per day. I personally do not keep anything under 11". So while 5 crappie is a very small portion of your limit here it is 1/2 your limit there.

I need to buy a fishing map of Lake Washington and learn it.

Originally Posted by ezgoing

It appears I need to get a couple of crappie.com stickers to place on each side of my boat. Maybe that will get some of them here.

It also appears that there are not that many Washington crappie fishermen making videos for YouTube. At least I can't find them when I search for them. If I wasn't so lazy I start making them myself. But that is work so it is unlikely I will make very many, if I make any at all.

Send me a pm for those decals. I'll set you up.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

I now have my pontoon in a slip in Lake Washington. I'm going to Chicago for a couple of weeks but will be fishing the lake as soon as I get back. Anybody on the forum that lives in the area or is visiting the area and would like to go on a fishing trip with me, just let me know.

Good luck there, really nice area I hear. Feel free to promote Crappie.com there. PM me and I can send you a bunch of decals you can hand out if you want. The Washington forum is kinda slow so it can use all the help it can get. And for sure take pics of what you catch, be sure to show the beautiful backgrounds available.

Funny, I just seen your PM, cool. I'll get you some stuff out shortly.

Originally Posted by Slab

Good luck there, really nice area I hear. Feel free to promote Crappie.com there. PM me and I can send you a bunch of decals you can hand out if you want. The Washington forum is kinda slow so it can use all the help it can get. And for sure take pics of what you catch, be sure to show the beautiful backgrounds available.

I plan on taking pictures. In fact, I plan on taking underwater videos as well as the regular videos and pictures. Lake Washington is too developed to have much beautiful backgrounds, with all the houses around the lake. But western side of Washington is beautiful.

I provided a link to an underwater video that was provided last month by a you-tuber who fishes Lake Washington. I need to find that spot.